Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras has asked European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to extend a tough debt bailout program by two years to ease the pain on an economy struggling in a fifth year of recession.

In a speech to parliament, he presented his government's targets for the next four years, promising to push through a privatisation drive and keep Greece in the eurozone.

In exchange, Mr Samaras promised his newly elected government would pledge to meet the budget commitments demanded of them.

His speech comes as auditors from the EU an IMF pick through government books to determine how well Greece has met commitments made in return for a 237 billion euro ($285 billion) bailout.

The prime minster's request for an extension to 2016 for Greece's deficit to fall to the EU ceiling comes as investor sentiment again turned sceptical about the eurozone's prospects in general.

The IMF added to the gloom on the global outlook, cautioning that growth could slow even faster if the eurozone crisis drags on, a warning made more urgent by disappointing United States jobs data.

Greece must win the confidence of the auditors to obtain the next slice of aid money which it needs to pay current expenditure.

At the beginning of his speech, Mr Samaras stressed "the goal of the government is to guarantee the place of Greece in the eurozone against those who want to undermine it".

Mr Samaras also promised the "closure or merger of several state entities" before the end of the year and faster privatisation, including the national railway company.

He also repeated a warning made by finance minister Yannis Stournaras that Greece's recovery program was "off-track" after two election campaigns in two months.

To address the problem, Mr Samaras pushed creditors for an understanding as it is "to reach the program's objectives that we must change aspects of it that are making our recession worse".

"We will do everything to change what needs to be changed, fight against recession so that the country meets its targets ... while reinforcing our country in the heart of the euro and the European Union," Mr Samaras stressed.

Greek ministers have been instructed to cooperate with the EU-IMF inspectors, who began their audit earlier this week, and refrain from making renegotiation requests.

The labour ministry told the auditors that unit labour costs were down by 8 per cent and on track towards a 2014 target of 15 per cent, local media reported.

Eurozone and EU finance ministers meet on Monday to follow up on a summit last week which was presented as a breakthrough in getting on top of the debt crisis but a dramatic European Central Bank interest rate on Thursday disappointed markets.

'Not fair'

Cyprus meanwhile, which now holds the EU's rotating presidency, complained its banks paid a "heavy price" to enable Greece to write off more than 100 billion euros in private sector debt, forcing a bailout request to shore-up Cypriot banks.

"This was not a fair way to deal with it," Cypriot finance minister Vassos Shiarly said.

"It was a European problem," he said.

Russia has revealed it too had received a bailout request from Cyprus for 5 billion euros.

After sharp gains made immediately after the EU summit, the markets have grown increasingly hesitant, with Spain and Italy's borrowing costs once again rising to dangerously high levels.

Greece said on July 10 it will seek to raise 1.25 billion euros in six-month treasury bills and until the EU and IMF releases more funds, the Greek government needs all the money it can find.

Tax authorities this week said they had only managed to conclude about 5 per cent of tax arrears cases, bringing in just 631 million euros.

Mr Samaras, 61, took office after June 17 elections, promising an austerity-weary nation he would re-examine salary cuts, tax rises and job losses.

In a letter to EU leaders last week, he wrote that Greece must obtain "necessary modifications" to its rescue program in order to fight off recession and reach its economic goals.

Greece has been rescued twice, and in April benefited from a big write-off of debt owed to private investors.

Under the current terms of its bailout, Greece must adopt further cuts worth 11.5 billion euros by 2013 and reduce the state payroll by 15,000 people in 2012.

The EU-IMF audit is expected to last weeks, with actual negotiations with creditors set to begin only at the end of the month.